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Jensen Messick

Professor Jeremy Crowe

English 101

May 12 2017

Self Reflection Essay

Any self reflection after a class must begin with where someone was at the beginning of a

course. English is not necessarily a weak point but it is not a strong point either. Punctuation

was an issue and will probably continue to be for some time. But during the course of this class

some headway was able to be made into these weaknesses and other weaknesses over the course

of the semester were also noticeable. Something that was indeed taken away from this class was

the need to search for bias in sources and find the objective truth within sources.

Over the course of the semester a common theme of the course was checking for the best

sources for a given paper. Evaluation of these sources could be said to have been the central

theme of the course and it helped and will continue to help with academic papers, political

research, economic research, and will also help in many non academic settings. The need for

vetting is apparent especially when one looks at the state of the media and how one must check

the source to see if the information is reliable. Not only is it necessary to check a source but to

also check where the source got its information from and to cross reference it to other sources to

find this objective truth.

An English strength would most likely be the ability to write. Writing is simple enough

when one sits down to actually write. The repetition of papers in this class helps to develop these

skills and helps one better organize their thoughts. As Im sure someone somewhere has pointed

out before it does not matter what one has to say if one cannot deliver it effectively. Romans
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considered oratory one of their noblest arts and indeed this ability to deliver information

eloquently can be crossed over to the modern day and to writing. One has to make what they are

writing interesting or others will not want to read it.

A weakness that does continue to be a plague is punctuation and the use of commas.

Through diligence this will be overcome however and hopefully one day it will be as natural as

speech to punctuate papers correctly. This will be an issue unless tackled and a concerted effort

made to overcome it. Hopefully with continued instruction in the art of writing and continued

instruction at Chesapeake College this will become a non factor.

The continued writing and checking of sources helped in becoming a more polished

writer and in conclusion this was what was taken away from this course. Not only should one be

able to write excellently but one has to find the right information to be presented. The best

sources and the least biased sources should be the ones used and this is a lesson that will be

remembered for a long time. It was enjoyable taking this class and it was thoroughly enjoyed.